THE RISK TAKING CHURCH

THE RISK TAKING CHURCH

An older man was getting on a train and couldn’t find his ticket. The conductor knew him and told him not to worry that he was sure he would find it and that he could go ahead and get on the train. The conductor’s kindness did not put him at ease. He said, “My dear man, my problem is not ‘Where is my ticket?’ but rather ‘Where am I going?’

Unfortunately we are too often just like that. We move forward through life unsure of how to respond to the changing situations in world around us. The problem often is that we have no clear direction or picture of where we are going. We lack a defined destination. We lack vision.

… without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.
By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear built an ark to save his family. By his faith he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness that comes by faith.
By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God. Hebrews 11:6-10

Sherlock Holmes and Watson were camping one night. In the middle of the night Sherlock Holmes awoke and looked up at the stars. He asked, "Watson, what do you see". Watson looked up and said "stars". Yes, but what do these stars tell you. Watson said "Cosmologically they tell me that we are part of a large universe – that we are one of billions and billions of planets. Theologically they tell me that we have a great God who made all of it. Meteorologically they tell me that the sky is clear and we will have good weather tomorrow. Temporally they tell me that it is the middle of the night and we should be sleeping! Sherlock, what do they tell you." "Well," he replied, "they tell me that someone has stolen our tent".

Let’s look at "what do we see?" As you think back over the past year and look at your own life and the direction of this church what do you see? Where are we as a church going? In terms of vision there are 3 different types of churches (and people):

1. The Under-taking Church – looking back

The undertaking church is one that is always looking backwards. All that people ever talk about are the “good old days”. They miss what is happening today because they are always looking back to yesterday. Decisions in this kind of church are based on what has worked in the past – if it was good enough for them it is good enough for us. (Think KJV versus newer translations. Pre-1960 hymns versus contemporary music as in Fannie Crosby versus Chris Tomlin).

Someone once wrote - Poor eyes limit your sight; poor vision limits your deeds.

While you can learn from the past, you can’t live there. You have to live and adapt to where you are or you will perish. Too many churches today are spending their time and resources lamenting the past when they should be adapting to the future. What has worked in the past may not work in the present because the audience has changed.

The gospel must be preached afresh and told in new ways to every generation, since every generation has its own unique questions. The gospel must constantly be forwarded to a new address, because the recipient is repeatedly changing his place of residence.

While it is possible for a church to be always looking back it is also true for a person. How do we look at our walk with Christ? Are we only remembering the GLORY DAYS of our ministry or do we feel the best years of our life are yet to come?

It is impossible to serve God yesterday. You cannot live off yesterday’s bread. It does not matter how God has used you in the past – what is important is how will He use you in the future? A person or church that tries to walk looking backward is bound to fall.

2. The Care-taking Church – looking present

The care-taking church is always concerned with pressing issues. It is so busy and there are so many needs that it’s focus is on immediate issues. It seems to always be in maintenance mode, just trying to keep it’s head above the water. Decisions in this kind of church are based on immediate assets. The number one questions is always “do we have the money now to support this”?

In Matthew 15:32-33 Jesus called his disciples to him and said, "I have compassion for these people; they have already been with me three days and have nothing to eat. I do not want to send them away hungry, or they may collapse on the way." His disciples answered, "Where could we get enough bread in this remote place to feed such a crowd?"
A care-taking church is realistic and comfortable. As long as the services are good and the needs are met and the people are happy then all is well. If it isn’t broken then don’t fix it. The problem is that they walk by sight and not faith.

Likewise it is easy to slip into the care-taking mode in our Christian walk. Certainly many of us have experienced this at work. When the work for the day is so great that you cannot see tomorrow coming then you are in trouble. We need to have a greater vision as individuals of God’s plan and purpose in our lives. Do our prayers reflect God’s greater glory? Are our thoughts on today or can we see the big picture. One very successful pastor said of his church, “We make changes before we HAVE to make changes. If the congregation or the staff getting ‘to comfortable’ or complacent we make changes.”

3. The Risk-taking church – looking to the future

The risk taking church is always looking forward. They believe that the best is yet to come. They invest all they have today so that they can be all that God wants them to be tomorrow. Risk taking churches seek to be cutting edge. They want to see how God is moving and to use all available technology, music, programs, etc. to make Christ known.

One of the reasons that we don’t take risks is fear of failure. However failure is just a part of life and is often a prerequisite to success. If you aren’t failing some then you may not be trying! If we as a church want to move forward with vision then we must accept the fact that there will be times in the future that we may fail along the way.

Jonas Salk attempted 200 unsuccessful vaccines for polio before he came up with one that worked. Somebody asked him one time, "How did it feel to fail 200 times trying to invent a vaccine for polio?" This was his response: "I never failed 200 times at anything in my life. My family taught me never to use that word. I simply discovered 200 ways how not to make a vaccine for polio."

By faith Noah went and build and ark. Think about this. He invested everything he had in something that seemed completely impossible. Can you imagine building a boat in your back yard in a day when there were no cranes that could move it! Though he could not see or understand it, he based his life on God’s word and was willing to wait 120 years for the promise to be fulfilled. Noah’s vision was based on what he had been told by God.

By faith Abraham left his home and went to the promised land. Though he was living in a tent he saw the future city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God. He believed God and based his life on that vision.

What destroys perspective is our tendency to measure ministry on too small a scale. We lose the wide-angle view because we’re focused on the close-up. Using a microscopic lens, even a harmless spider looks like a hairy, horrible monster. Most of us would never clean cobwebs from the house if we focused on the close-up view of spiders.

Jesus was a risk taker. He entrusted the salvation of the world to group of weak and frightened and often confused men. But through God’s power and vision they changed the world. Instead of looking at past or trusting in the present they saw God’s future church and boldly went forward to make it happen.

Where is our vision? How big is our faith? In which direction are we looking? Are we willing to lay everything on the line for God? Are we motivated by what has happened in our life, by what we presently have or are we open for God to use us in ways that we have never been used before? Is our vision for our life and family limited to immediate needs? We don’t need to miss out on what God is doing – we need to join Him.

As you look to the future of our church, what do you see?